Class of 2020: Getting Their Job Search Back on Track
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How did the pandemic derail employment plans for the class of 2020?
Here's your Money Briefing for Friday, December 4th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. 2020 has been rough on a lot of people, particularly the class of 2020. Recent college graduates spent most of their senior year preparing to enter one of the strongest job markets in recent memory. Then the pandemic changed everything.
When many of the class of 2020 were graduating from college, unemployment for 20 to 24-year-olds was above 20%. And that's compared with the low teens for all age groups. So they actually suffered more than the broader population.
Coming up, we'll hear from personal journal news editor Ellen Byron with more on this. And a recent graduate will discuss how his employment track was upended when his college abruptly sent everyone home last spring. That's after the break.
Finding a job upon graduating from college is a milestone nearly every student hopes to achieve. But for people who graduated last spring, many of their plans for joining the workforce were short-circuited by the pandemic. Ellen Byron, news editor of our personal journal section, has been talking to some of them, and she joins us now. Ellen, thanks for taking the time to be with us.
Thanks for having me.
So, you know, the hammer came down pretty quickly on this group. There was no way college seniors could have prepared for the collapse of the job market this year, was there?
I can't see a way. And that was what really drew us to telling their story.
What do Labor Department numbers reveal about 20-to-24 year‑old unemployment in spring 2020?
In the newsroom, we like to say that sometimes a number begs a story. And when we looked at the experience of the class of 2020, they were primed when they started their senior year to enter one of the most robust job markets in history. In the fall of 2019, the U.S. unemployment rate was at a 50-year low. And then by the time they graduated, they faced one of the most challenging job markets for young people in decades.
Yeah, let's talk about those challenges. What do the numbers from the Labor Department say about unemployment among that group?
Well, this spring, when many of the class of 2020 were graduating from college, unemployment for 20 to 24 year olds was above 20%. And that's compared with the low teens for all age groups. So they actually suffered more than than the broader population. And then about 25% of employers said they closed open positions or they took back offers made in the spring to graduating students because of the pandemic. And that's according to a survey by Michigan State University.
Now, all of this was a shock when it came to employment plans, but I imagine there has to have been an even broader effect on their lives.
So, so many people are examining this. Consumer product makers are watching this. Psychologists are watching this. Economists are watching this. Because that delay in a series of life milestones is expected to have a lasting effect. So some of those life milestones are landing that entry-level job, moving away from home, achieving financial independence. And also how risk averse will they be? All of these things could have lasting implications for how they handle their finances, their health, their life path. And so there's a lot of questions surrounding how this will play out for a generation. Not since the Great Depression have so many young adults lived with their parents. In July, 52% of young adults aged 18 to 29 years old lived with one or both of their parents, and that passes the previous peak in 1940, and that's according to data from the Pew Research Center.
How might delayed milestones like living at home and financial independence affect a generation?
That is really accelerating this decades-long trend that the number and share of young adults living with their parents has grown sharply. But we particularly saw that between February and July. And that's across all major racial and ethnic groups, men and women, metropolitan and rural residents. And that's in all four main U.S. census regions. So this is across the board, young people are living with their parents.
One recent graduate whose plans were derailed by the pandemic is DeAndre King. He's 22 and lives with his family in Queens, New York.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
How did the pandemic derail employment plans for the class of 2020?
0:05–1:33
2
What do Labor Department numbers reveal about 20-to-24 year‑old unemployment in spring 2020?
1:33–3:45
3
How might delayed milestones like living at home and financial independence affect a generation?
3:45–4:40
4
Who is DeAndre King and how was his senior year disrupted by COVID‑19?
4:40–9:57
5
How did DeAndre restart his job search and structure a full‑time application routine from home?
9:57–13:49
Speakers
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